G. GENERAL NATURAL HISTORY AND ZOOLOGY. 311 



original markings of the prairie chicken will be thereby re- 

 tained. 



ADDITIONAL REMAINS OF THE MOA. 



It is probable that the gigantic fossil bird of New Zealand, 

 known to the natives as the Moa, and scientifically as the 

 J)i7iO)'?iis, Palapteryx-, etc., will become a very common ob- 

 ject in natural-history museums, as new discoveries of bones 

 in large number are continually being made. The latest 

 record is that of fifteen specimens found along the beach, 

 about sixty miles to the north of Auckland, a more northern 

 location than has hitherto been assigned to this group. With 

 the bones were found several human skulls and a complete 

 human skeleton, a rude stone hatchet, and some obsidian 

 chips, etc., furnishing another confirmation of the well-estab- 

 lished fact of the co-existence of the Moa with man. It will, 

 perhaps, be remembered that among the most interesting ob- 

 jects in the American Museum of Natural History, in the 

 Central Park, is a series of skeletons of this bird, procured 

 from Dr. Julius Haast, of Christchurch, New Zealand. 12 A^ 

 February 3, 273. 



THE MIGRATION OF BIRDS. 



During the cold period which lasted from the 12th of De- 

 cember, 1874, up to the end of that month, it was remarked 

 in England that a great number of birds belonging to species 

 which are not in the habit of leaving their own country were 

 found collected, as if they meditated seeking a milder cli- 

 mate. Unusual flights of migratory birds were equally no- 

 ticed. Evidently these birds were endeavoring to escape 

 from the temperature which was too severe for them. A com- 

 parison of the observations of naturalists with the weather- 

 charts published in Europe and America makes it now seem 

 certain that the weather immediately prevailing, and not that 

 which is about to come in the near future, is the element 

 which decides the movement of the greater number of mi- 

 gratory birds. 



FOSSIL BIRDS IN AMERICA. 



Professor Marsh continues to find objects of interest in the 

 immense collection of fossil vertebrates gathered by himself 



